Displaying items by tag: The Digital Bits

Our friends at the Criterion Collection have just announced their April slate of Blu-ray and DVD titles, and it’s a nice line-up.

They include: A re-issue of Jean-Pierre Melville’s Army of Shadows (1969 – Spine #385 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 4/7, George Marshall’s Destry Rides Again (1939 – Spine #1024 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 4/14, Jura Herz’s The Cremator (1969 – Spine #1023 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 4/21, and Miranda July’s Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005 – Spine #1026 – Blu-ray and DVD) and Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014 – Spine #1025 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 4/28.

Naturally, we’ve updated our Criterion Spines Project pages here at The Bits accordingly. [Read on here...]

What a way to follow-up my state of the home video industry report circa CES 2020 yesterday!

The news is breaking this morning that Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures are going to be merging their physical media distribution operations. The combined venture will distribute Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD discs in North America over the next decade, beginning in early 2021.

The merger will first have to be approved by the United States Justice Department.

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment president Eddie Cunningham will lead the new venture. [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got some news and more perspective on CES and the state of physical media here at the start of 2020. But first, we have more new Blu-ray reviews for you...

First of all, Dennis provides another perspective on Todd Phillips’ Joker on BD from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. He seems to have liked it a little more than I did. Do check out his thoughts.

Dennis has also turned in a look at Aaron Schimberg’s Chained for Life on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber.

And Tim has a review of Richard Franklin’s Road Games (1981), now available in a new Collector’s Edition Blu-ray from Scream Factory.

Speaking of Scream, the company has just announced that their forthcoming Blu-ray Collector’s Edition of My Bloody Valentine is going to include new 4K scans of both the original theatrical edition and also the Uncut version mastered from the original camera negative. [Read on here...]

As you may have heard, the 2020 Academy Award nominations have been made, and they’re causing a bit of a stir as usual both for who was nominated and who wasn’t.

But before we get to that, we’ve got a new review for you: I’ve taken a look at Todd Philips’ Joker on 4K Ultra HD from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. It’s a reference quality disc and a very good and well-made film that deserves its Best Picture nomination. I also think its star, Joaquin Phoenix, is likely to win a Best Actor Oscar for his performance in the film. But Joker is not... I think... a masterpiece. You’ll have to read the review, in which I elaborate further. The disc definitely gets high marks for its A/V quality though—you 4K really don’t want to miss it.

Now then, we’ve got a couple of topics to cover today. First, as I mentioned, the Oscar nominations were announced this morning. [Read on here...]

All right, it turns out that other than the usual new models of 4K and 8K display—and the Filmmaker Mode announcement that we already covered—there’s not really a whole lot of worthy 4K UHD news to report from CES 2020.

So we’re working new disc reviews for you, including a number of 4K Ultra HD titles that we expect to start posting tomorrow.

We do have one new review for you for today: Tim has checked out Scream Factory’s new Blu-ray release of Val Guest’s The Abominable Snowman (1957), a Hammer Films title some of you may have missed. Do give it a look.

Now them... we do have some good new title announcements, as well as some new cover artwork to share with you today. [Read on here...]

We’re starting things off today with a pair of new Blu-ray reviews...

Dennis Seuling has turned in his thoughts on Robert Eggers’ acclaimed The Lighthouse. Sounds like both the film and the disc are pretty good, so do give it a look.

Also, Tim has offered his thoughts on Sergio Stivaletti’s The Wax Mask (1997) from Severin Films.

We’ve also updated our Release Dates & Artwork section with all the latest Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD cover artwork and Amazon pre-order links, so be sure to use the section if you’re interested in ordering any of those titles. (We certainly appreciate it!)

Now then… we have a little bit of CES news to report, but first we have some good new title announcements for you today... [Read on here...]

Before we get started today, we have a pair of new Blu-ray reviews for you from Dennis—he’s taken a look at George Cukor’s Holiday, newly available on disc from The Criterion Collection, and also Judy from Lionsgate. Enjoy!

In announcement news today, we’ve got word that Universal plans to release Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite on Blu-ray and DVD on 1/28. The disc will include the Q&A with Director Bong Joon-ho featurette. There are no plans yet for a UK 4K Ultra HD release here in the States, though the film is coming to physical 4K in France, German, and elsewhere. Unfortunately, those discs will not have English subtitles for the original Korean language audio. Fingers crossed that Universal will decide to release a 4K if sales of the Blu-ray are strong. You can see the Blu-ray artwork above left.

Also today, we’ve updated our 4K Ultra HD Release List to reflect a bunch of new street dates and pre-order information we’ve gotten in from retail and industry sources. Here’s the gist (and if you click on the titles links provided, you can pre-order the titles on Amazon if available)... [Read on here...]

All right, folks... this is our last post of 2019, the year that Blade Runner finally became the present.

We do have a couple good things for you today...

First, Tim has turned in his in-depth review of Scream Factory’s new The Fly Collection box set, which includes the original The Fly (1958), Return of the Fly (1959), and Curse of the Fly (1965), along with the newer remake The Fly (1986) and The Fly II (1989) as well as a host of extras both new and legacy. It’s a great Blu-ray set, so do give it a look.

Also here at the site today, our own Michael Coate has turned in not one but two new History, Legacy & Showmanship columns to close out the year. [Read on here...]

“Star Trek: The Motion Picture wasn’t a perfect film, but it had a plethora of nearly perfect moments.” — Inglorious Treksperts co-host Mark A. Altman

The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship are pleased to present this retrospective commemorating the 40th anniversary of the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the first big-screen adventure based upon Gene Roddenberry’s legendary 1960s television series with William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley reprising the roles that made them famous of Kirk, Spock and McCoy, respectively.

Directed by Robert Wise (West Side Story, The Sound of Music), the film also reunited James Doohan as Scotty, George Takei as Sulu, Majel Barrett as Dr. Chapel, Walter Koenig as Chekov, and Nichelle Nichols as Uhura, and also featured Persis Khambatta as Ilia and Stephen Collins as Decker. [Read more here...]

“Hello, Dolly! is a well-dressed dinosaur.” — Matthew Kennedy, author of Roadshow! The Fall of Film Musicals in the 1960s

The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship are pleased to present this retrospective commemorating the golden anniversary of the release of Hello, Dolly!, the Oscar-winning cinematic adaptation of the Broadway stage musical which starred Barbra Streisand (Funny Girl, Yentl) as singing matchmaker Dolly Levi.

Hello, Dolly! — directed by Gene Kelly (On the Town, Singin’ in the Rain) and which also starred Walter Matthau (The Odd Couple, The Bad News Bears) and Michael Crawford (Condorman, The Phantom of the Opera stage production) — opened 50 years ago this month. For the occasion, The Bits features an historical reference listing of the film’s major-market roadshow engagements and a Q&A with film historian Matthew Kennedy, who discusses the film’s virtues, shortcomings and legacy. [Read on here...]